Teen Titans: Alpha
by Toffy
Summary: They were the best of the best, fighting crimes and hanging out was part of their everyday lives. But soon, something would shake this team to their very core, would test their friendships, loyalties and trust…
1. Chapter 1 The Titans Academy

I do not own the Teen Titans or anything related to them, however I do own this story and all of the non-original characters except for Isis, who I have been given permission to use by a friend of mine and all are copywrited. This means you can not copy the story or any of the characters or use them without permission from their original owners.

_**Teen Titans: Alpha**_

**_The Titans Academy_**

Our story begins at the Titans Academy, a school founded by the Legendary Teen Titans to teach and train students with extraordinary gifts in the ways of crime fighting and saving lives. These mentors gave children new hopes and a second chance. The children lived in dorms and went to class and hung out in common rooms like 'normal' children, students.

Once students graduated, depending on their merits, would be assigned to either a Titans team or division. Divisions sound cool, but in reality they were mobile, were stationed at the Academy and would move from city to city helping with simpler situations. Titans teams were assigned to protect a specific area or city and given a Titans Tower as a home and centre of operations.

One such Team was to replace the Legendary Titans, now called Titans Alpha, made up of graduates from the Academy. They were the best of the best, fighting crimes and hanging out was part of their every-day lives. But soon, something would shake this team to their very core, would test their friendships, loyalties and trust…


	2. Chapter 2 The Alpha Five

I do not own the Teen Titans or anything related to them, however I do own this story and all of the non-original characters except for Isis, who I have been given permission to use by a friend of mine and all are copywrited. This means you can not copy the story or any of the characters or use them without permission from their original owners.

_**Teen Titans: Alpha**_

_**The Alpha Five**_

As always Titans Tower was brimming with activity, even for the early time of six in the morning. Just as the sun was rising, covering the tower in a golden glow, the five inhabitants were either waking, or already awake.

In the main room, two boys were sitting on the curved sofa, already happily arguing and playing on their Game Station. A girl was watching from the kitchen, still dressed in her pyjamas, raising a brow as a car got knocked of the game circuit and the shorter of the two boys shouted;

"Oh yeah! I'm so kicking your- OH MAN!" As he had been celebrating the other player has somehow retrieved his car and was now in the lead.

"You were saying?" He asked smugly, as the shorter boy with his blonde and silver streaked messy haired head sat back down, his bright pale blue eyes narrowed in concentration.

"You are so going to pay for that Li!" He said to the boy sitting on the sofa, his dark brown hair hadn't even been brushed yet and his dark brown eyes were fixed on the game.

"I'd like to see you make me Ze!" The fighting talk continued and the girl in the kitchen just sighed and shook her head. She ran a hand through her jet black locks, streaked with scarlet before looking into the fridge and preparing to fix up some breakfast.

"Phoe! – Phoe tell him! His soooo going down!" The blonde haired boy said and the girl, Phoenix, looked up.

"Why don't you show him Zeru, rather than just telling him? Besides, breakfast will be ready soon." She began to pull things out of the fridge and cupboard, bustling about in the kitchen and rubbing her eyes, which were as ever, hidden behind her mask.

Another member of the team walked in from outside. Wearing a red tracksuit, he smiled, scratching his light brown and red streaked head, his deep blue eyes were wide awake, though he'd been up since five.

"Been training again Taiyou?" Li asked from the sofa, his eyes still on the screen in front of him.

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep. What are we having for breakfast?" He asked, sitting at the breakfast bar.

"Blueberry pancakes once I've made them." Phoenix said, wiping some flour off her red t-shirt, which was dotted with white polka-dots anyway.

"Morning." A girl said from the door way, her voice was ice cold, just like the rest of her, her pale ice blue hair was tied back and she was still wearing her white pyjamas.

"Hey Isis." Taiyou said from the breakfast bar and Isis merely yawned, retrieving a glass from the cupboard and filling it with water, not from the tap, but the air itself.

The smell of cooking pancakes wafted through out the room as Phoenix pulled out five plates and began placing blueberry pancakes on each one. The smell immediately stopped the continued bickering of Li and Zeru who finished their game to eat breakfast.

"Feeding time at the zoo." Isis said sarcastically as Li and Zeru tucked into their pancakes like animals and Phoenix and Taiyou just sweat dropped. It was another normal day for them, knowing their luck it would later involved chasing a criminal around half the city, but for now they could enjoy breakfast in peace.

As the others began eating happily, Phoenix leaned against the counter, eating her pancakes slowly and quietly. She'd been doing a lot more thinking these days, ever since she'd received some news from her father.

"Phoe, are you ok?" Taiyou asked and Phoenix looked up, the voice cutting her trail of thought short.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, sure." She continued to eat her pancakes and Taiyou raised an eyebrow, not pursuing the subject further.


	3. Chapter 3 The nightmare

I do not own the Teen Titans or anything related to them, however I do own this story and all of the non-original characters except for Isis, who I have been given permission to use by a friend of mine and all are copywrited. This means you can not copy the story or any of the characters or use them without permission from their original owners.

_**Teen Titans: Alpha**_

_**The nightmare**_

After breakfast, Phoenix proceeded to her room to get dressed; upon arriving at her room she checked the computer upon her silver and birch desk. No more word from Dad. Should she be worried? _'No, don't be stupid, everything is fine.'_

She paced her room silently before getting washed and dressed, pulling on her usual outfit of her usual snug-fitting scarlet t-shirt that stopped just before her mid-riff. She covered her arms in a pair of scarlet 'gloves', though they cut short, ending at the wrist with a simple loop around her thumb, reaching past her elbow to her mid-upper arm. She pulled on a pair of jet black 'shorts' which stopped a couple of inches before her boots, then she covered these with her usual short skirt, in scarlet to match her t-shirt, which reached to her mid-thigh, stopping short so her shorts could still be seen. She searched for her knee-high jet black boots with the silver rim at the top and the flat grey soles. As she continued to think she half-heartedly draped a silver utility belt around her waist.

She sat down at her desk and began brushing her hair as she looked into the mirror, the mask she had inherited from her father hiding her eyes. She hated to admit it, but for once she was afraid and worried.

She hadn't had much sleep and had done some early morning training even before Taiyou had decided he could no longer sleep. After her nightmare who could blame her?

_It was dark, there was smoke everywhere, like dust causing a haze and the person she was facing was no more than a fuzzy black outline, a shadow. There was a crazed laughing. A manacle laugh that sounded so familiar. She knew that laugh, it made her stomach flip over, made her fear the worst._

"_He is gone Phoenix. He is gone." It continued laughing and Phoenix screamed,_

"_NO!"_

She'd woken up then. She'd been shaking and her breathing had been harsh, no matter how hard she'd tried she couldn't go back off to sleep.

She looked at her reflection, staring at it for a short while before she heard a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" She asked quietly, but clearly, tearing her eyes away from the mirror.

"It's me, Taiyou." The boy said from outside, having gotten changed into his trademark dark red suite with an orange and gold flame on the front, just beneath his shoulder on the left side covering, the suite covered him right from his neck to his ankles and wrists and somehow made him look like an overgrown flame, his boots added to the effect because they were orange and yellow. Phoenix got up, put her hairbrush down and walked to the door. It slid open and she forced a small smile.

"Its ok, I'm coming now."

"Actually, I wanted to see if you were ok, you were really quiet at breakfast this morning, I just wondered if something was wrong." Taiyou looked concerned and Phoenix did the best she could to hide how she really felt, how scared she had been this morning and how she still felt a little shaky. She was glad she always wore a mask, because it made times like these easier, her eyes could not betray how she felt if they were hidden.

"I'm fine. I just got a message from my Dad the other day. It's been playing on my mind a bit, that's all. I've been meaning to go and see my Mom and Dad for ages." It wasn't completely a lie, but it wasn't completely the truth either.

"Oh, ok, well are you coming to the main room, Zeru says he wants a re-match with Li and he wants as many witnesses for when he wins. That's if he ever does."

"Err. Ok, yeah." But then the siren went off, the siren that always meant trouble. The pair looked at each other, wondering who it could possibly be this time before racing up the hall.


	4. Chapter 4 Raptors 'R' Us

I do not own the Teen Titans or anything related to them, however I do own this story and all of the non-original characters except for Isis, who I have been given permission to use by a friend of mine and all are copywrited. This means you can not copy the story or any of the characters or use them without permission from their original owners.

_**Review replies:**_

lupine-eyes - Here ya go, another chapter for you to read .

Dante Tigerwolf - I've tried my best to expand on powers and stuff, personalities will come more in the next chapter .

Starfire Fury - Glad you liked it Ange-chan! I hope I've got Isis' character right, if I haven't let me know. As for Taiyou and Phoenix, I'm not sure myself yet, so wait and see .

Oh and thank all of you for reviewing, and I hope you enjoy this next chapter.

****

_**Teen Titans: Alpha**_

**_Raptors 'R' Us_**

"Which member of the mad, bad and ugly squad is it this time?" Zeru asked, hovering in mid air with his arms crossed. He was positively scowling, it was just his luck for a 'bad guy' to show up when he was about to unceremoniously kick Li's…

The doors slid open to the main room and Taiyou ran in, Phoenix flew through the doors in front of him, coming to a soft land. All the Titans looked up at the main screen as Li started messing with the control panel.

"Looks like that Raptor guy again."

"The one with his little nipping dinosaurs that came up to your ankle if you were lucky who was about as terrifying as a fluffy white rabbit?" Isis asked coldly and Phoenix couldn't help but run through this statement in her head again to make sure she'd heard it properly. It wasn't like Isis to use a word such as _fluffy_.

"Same one, looks like he's in the park."

"We best get him out of there, before he hurts someone… Or embarrasses himself." Taiyou said and Phoenix nodded.

"Ok Titans, lets do this." Li and Taiyou ran out of the door, closely followed by a flying Neru. Phoenix turned to look back at the window.

"Are you coming Girl Wonder?" Phoenix looked at Isis. The ice girl was standing by the door, waiting for her. Phoenix nodded, forcing another smile and wondering how many more smiles she'd have to force today before flying out of the door, leaving Isis in the doorway, she watched Phoenix as she passed, an eyebrow raised, before she followed.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Jurassic Park." The boy soaring above the park grinned, but Isis almost made him fall out of the sky.

"Ha-ha, very funny Neru." She was at his level, only instead of hovering as he was, she was standing on a gigantic pillar of ice.

"Raptor at 12 o'clock." Li's voice said, coming through the communicators.

"Looks like he's been busy." That had to be the understatement of the century. Raptor's dinosaurs were now, not to ankle height, but at least four foot high, there was one that was putting a near by tower block to shame.

"You guys stop the dinosaurs from spreading out, keep them away from the people, I'm going after Raptor."

"Right Phoe." With that, the Titans spread out to tackle the dinosaurs.

Isis's tower of ice melted at her command, lowering her to the floor gracefully, to be immediately surrounded by a group of raptors, all to about her shoulder height.

"Welcome to the ice age." She said coldly, as she summoned water from the air. It spread around the raptors and froze, encasing them in blocks of ice.

Not too far away, Taiyou was 'getting to know' two bigger dinosaurs, both about eleven foots in height. As they looked down at him, the jaws open positively wishing they had a Dinosaur sized bottle of ketchup, he smiled, clenched his fists, which were then encircled with flames.

"Two barbequed dinosaurs, coming up." The towering creatures looked at him curiously, before fireballs were thrown from Taiyou's hands and they were forced back, away from the gates of the park.

Zeru and Li had formed a team against the huge dinosaur, who was very close to squashing half of the park into leafy pancakes.

Zeru zoomed around the massive monster's head, until the creature got dizzy, causing it to sway and almost topple into the tower block.

"Oh no you don't!" Li said, propping the dinosaur with ease.

"Way to go muscles." Zeru said and Li just grinned. As Taiyou and Isis joined them, they decided to finally put these dinosaurs to bed.

Phoenix was flying after a running Raptor. He turned upon a hill and Phoenix stopped, wondering why the man had done so. He was wearing a weird sort of cloak. It billowed out behind him with its jagged edges, the dark brown tunic-like suite underneath clearly visible.

"My beautiful creations! You destroyed them all!"

"Well it is our job." Phoenix replied. She was getting tired of this joker, he hardly knew how to cause havoc compared to some of the people they had faced. She was now joined by the other Titans and Raptor looked scared and bewildered.

"You're done Raptor." He just fell to his knees as he looked back to his dinosaurs, all encased in ice.

"Man, Raptor has to be the most pathetic bad guy we've fought yet." Neru laughed, as the Titans re-entered the main room, Phoenix was the last to enter, flying in silently, her head down. It took her a moment to register that her team mates had stopped and were standing behind the sofa, all looking at the control panel. She stood, just inside the doorway and they looked at her. She didn't like the silence that had fallen on the tower.

"What is it?" She asked quietly and it was a moment before anyone answered.

"There's a message for you Phoe, sent to the main screen." Neru said, standing on solid ground rather than hovering joyfully now. It may seem strange, for this sudden change in mood to be caused by a simple, harmless message, but what was causing the mood right now, was not the message _itself_, but the fact that it was sent to the main screen.

Who could it be from? It had to be serious to send it to the main screen, after all, Phoenix had a computer in her room that people could send messages to if they needed to reach her, they all had their own computers after all. So why send it to the main screen? What or who was so important that it couldn't be sent to Phoenix directly?


	5. Chapter 5 The unknown and the unwanted

I do not own the Teen Titans or anything related to them, however I do own this story and all of the non-original characters except for Isis, who I have been given permission to use by a friend of mine and all are copywrited. This means you can not copy the story or any of the characters or use them without permission from their original owners.

_**Teen Titans: Alpha**_

**The unknown and the unwanted**

"Does it say who it's from?" Phoenix asked, hoping to God that it did.

"No, it just says: _To Phoenix_." Li said, examining the alert the message had given more closely. Phoenix walked over slowly, the other Titans expected her to play the message herself and were surprised when she transferred the message onto a CD.

"Phoe what are you doing?" Neru asked and Phoenix just turned with the disk in hand, her face was blank, hiding the worry her stomach was now alerting herself to.

"I'm going to watch this on my computer." She said, simply stating the obvious.

"Don't you think we should watch it with you? I mean, there's no sender's name on it." Taiyou asked and Phoenix forced her third smile of the day.

"Don't worry, it's only a message, what harm can it do? Besides, it's addressed to _me_." With that she flew out of the doors quickly and Li said what all the other Titan's were thinking;

"Is it just me, or did she seem to want to get away from us?"

Phoenix was in such a rush to watch the message that she almost forgot to shut the door behind her. As the sliding door closed she inserted the disk into her computer and it immediately began to play.

It was pitch black. In the centre of the screen a figure was sitting, a low red light glowed behind them, but otherwise nothing could be seen.

A familiar voice began to flow from the message, and Phoenix listened intently, thoughts racing through her mind.

"Dear Phoenix. Dear, dear Phoenix. I have been watching you, watching you and your perfect little life." Phoenix shuddered and her heart grew cold, _'Not you. Why does it have to be you?'_ also thinking that at the moment, her life wasn't that perfect.

"Yes. I've been keeping an eye on you. I wonder how your friends would react, how they would _feel_ if they found out you've been keeping secrets from them." Phoenix's eyes widened, he wouldn't tell them, would he? _'Oh yes he would.'_ She thought bitterly.

"But that's not why I called. Oh no. I know you got a message from your father the other day. I do hope you've been keeping an eye on _him_." Phoenix's heart missed a beat. _'He hasn't got Dad has he? Don't be stupid. Dad's a legend, he can take care of himself.'_ But the person on screen seemed to read her mind.

"I know what you're thinking. The legend that is the 'Great Boy Wonder', he take care of himself better than anyone, I wouldn't be able to do anything to him. That's where you're wrong." The voice continued on bitterly and Phoenix was reeling at the words.

"The _Great_ Boy Wonder has his flaws. Two of them I know to. One of them is _you_ his _precious_ filthy _half-blooded_ daughter." Phoenix felt as if she might be sick. Panic was rising in the pit of her stomach as she listened to the end of the message.

"I do hope you've been keeping an eye on him Phoenix. _Who knows what could happen to him_." The screen cut off and Phoenix's head was spinning. She got up and started pacing her room, taking the same worn path she had taken this morning.

'_Not Dad, please not Dad. If anything's happened to him… If he's done anything to him I swear I'll…'_ As the machine ejected the disk she took it in her hand, staring at it for a moment before throwing it at the wall. It smashed into tiny pieces and the person in the doorway had to move to dodge the flying shards. Phoenix's breathing was harsh as she tried to regain her self-control.

"Yes?" She snapped, having not fully regained her centre. As her breathing slowed a bit more she said in a calmer tone;

"Sorry… What is it?" Now hoping it was safe to breathe, Taiyou finally spoke.

"We all want to know what's going on. You couldn't seem to get away from us fast enough just now." He spoke cautiously, in case she started to throw things again.

"Nothing's going on." Phoenix replied quickly, only adding to Taiyou's suspicions. She looked away from him to the shiny shards of the CD on the floor.

"You know, I can tell when you're lying Phoe, because you never look anyone in the eye." Phoenix looked up defiantly, her masked eyes staring right into Taiyou's deep blue orbs.

"Nothing is going on." She spoke more forcefully this time, her voice was clear, steady and adamant. Taiyou's reply was just as strong.

"You've changed Phoe. Something's happened and you've changed. You've never lied to us before, you've become dead quiet, you always want to be alone, you always seem to be thinking and you've not properly smiled in days." Phoenix pouted at the floor. She looked at the wall when he mentioned how quiet she had become and looked out of the corner of her eyes at him when he mentioned she hadn't been smiling properly.

"So? What's you're point?" She asked, her arms crossed as she stared at the wall.

"My point? My point is that you've changed! We're all worried about you. It's like we don't know who you are anymore. It's like _I_ don't know who you are anymore." Taiyou's voice seemed to be getting louder with each statement, until he reached the final one. Phoenix didn't move for a moment, the room was filled with silence and what seemed like an age passed by in two short seconds.

"Or maybe you never knew me to begin with." Phoenix replied, her voice cut through the air like icy steel. She walked past him, not even looking at him as she passed him in the doorway. As she walked up the corridor Taiyou called after her,

"You know, I'm starting to think that myself." His voice was harsh and it felt like it had sliced right through Phoenix's heart. She merely kept her head down as she flew to the training room and Taiyou was left by her doorway, feeling numb and bewildered.


	6. Chapter 6 Secret conversations

I do not own the Teen Titans or anything related to them, however I do own this story and all of the non-original characters except for Isis, who I have been given permission to use by a friend of mine and all are copywrited. This means you can not copy the story or any of the characters or use them without permission from their original owners.

__

_**Review replies:**_

Dante Tigerwolf : Glad I explained Isis well enough, I didn't think I'd done Phoenix too well, guess I was wrong. As for Li, Zeru and Taiyou, I've detailed Zeru more in this chapter, and I thought I'd done Taiyou pretty well. Well anyway, if I didn't, Taiyou can manipulate and control fire. As for Zeru, read on and I'll detail him a bit more if its still a little confusing. Li will be explained more fully later on, but if you want to know now I guess I could tell.

Anyway, enjoy the next chapter.

_**Teen Titans: Alpha**_

**Secret conversations**

"Well that went well." Taiyou said dejectedly as he walked in through the main room doors. He jumped over the back of the sofa, slumping down in his seat as Zeru and Li looked at him expectantly, whilst Isis sat quietly in the corner.

"He was being sarcastic." She said icily and the other two boys were quick to reply;

"Yeah we know." Zeru said, feigning that it was only pretend obliviousness.

"So what did she say?" Li asked, ignoring the other Titans and Taiyou sighed.

"Nothing, she said absolutely nothing."

"That must have been an insightful conversation." Isis remarked, but her sarcasm seemed lost for the moment which angered her slightly.

"As soon as I got there I opened the door and all I saw was the CD coming at me, so I ducked and it shattered on the wall. I think I'm lucky to come out with my head still attached to my shoulders."

"Don't exaggerate Tae." Li said, but Zeru shook his head,

"I've seen her go nut-so Li, Tae's lucky to be alive."

"She didn't go nut-so Zeru, she went Super Nova." Li and Zeru's jaws dropped and Isis merely shook her head. It was just like Phoenix to steal the spot light as usual. She was always being talked about or to for something. _'Girl Wonder the popular'_ Isis thought bitterly, thinking back to their Academy days when Phoenix had been a star in so many ways. Pretty, popular, intelligent, Phoenix was _perfect_ and Isis, was frankly, sick of it. She always stole the limelight, and the ice girl thought it was time for someone else to take centre stage. But, as always, she remained stonily silent and refused to buckle to her emotions.

"Now I know you are exaggerating." Li said; folding his arms. Taiyou shook his head.

"I've never seen her like that you guys. She was totally freaked; you could see it in her face. She bit my head off, then apologised and asked why I was there."

"See, she's still the same old Phoenix if she apologised." Li interrupted and Taiyou sighed;

"I haven't finished." Li shut up and Zeru continued to listen, whilst Isis still remained deadly quiet.

"She lied to me you guys." You could practically hear the mental gasps of Zeru and Li and you could see Isis' raised eyebrow. Phoenix _didn't_ lie. "I told her we wanted to know what was going on and that we were worried, that she hadn't been herself lately and that she'd completely changed on us."

"What did she say to that?" Zeru asked with baited breath and Taiyou's voice sounded even more dejected;

"She asked me what my point was and I got riled and I said it was like we didn't know her anymore." Zeru was hanging onto Taiyou's every word, he loved stuff like this; it was like an action and adventure story happening right in front of him. Li just prompted Taiyou to finish his explanation of the encounter with their leader.

"And?"

"Then she went all silent and said; _'Or maybe you never knew me to begin with.'_ And I said that was starting to think the same thing." A silence descended on the group as they all thought about what had taken place. It didn't make any sense, why would Phoenix go all weird on them? She wasn't normally like this.

"Maybe the Girl Wonder finally cracked." Isis said, breaking the cold silence as she rose from her seat to retrieve a glass or water.

"Don't say that." Taiyou said quietly and Isis looked up from the water she had just summoned into the drinking vessel.

"Why? Our brilliant leader is keeping things from us, how do we know we can trust her if she can't tell us the truth?"

"Because she's our leader and we have faith in her." Taiyou said, his voice was suddenly as harsh as when he had confronted Phoenix.

"You might." Isis snapped back, her glass of water slowly freezing over.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Taiyou said, rising from his seat to face the girl and Li and Zeru looked slightly nervous.

"I'm saying that maybe we shouldn't rely on someone who can't even tell us why she'd going, how did you put it, 'Super Nova'?"

"We all have private stuff Isis, maybe this is something Phoenix wants to keep private."

"I recall you being one of the ones who wanted to know what was going on, or have you forgotten that?"

"Why do you dislike her so much Isis?" Taiyou suddenly asked, catching Isis off guard. Isis quickly regained her composure her voice was now even colder than usual and Li and Zeru could have sworn that if looks could kill Taiyou would be six foot under by now;

"That is not fair."

"Why is not fair? You were the one trash-talking Phoe behind her back!" Isis' glared before storming out of the main room.

"Nice going man, now we've got two girls mad at us." Zeru said, raising from his seat on the sofa and following Isis out of the room. Taiyou wanted to scream so badly, but instead he clenched his fists and flopped backwards onto the sofa.

"I couldn't have handled that worse could I?" Taiyou asked after a moment and Li shook his head.

"I doubt it." Taiyou rose an eyebrow and Li just smiled weakly.

Isis stormed into her room, the ice blue walls and pure white sheets which normally felt like home made her feel so cold, not that she shouldn't be new to this. She wrapped her arms around herself, in an attempt to hug herself to make herself feel warmer.

'_They hate me. Everyone hates me. Girl Wonder the Popular. Like she could ever say her life wasn't perfect. I've never fitted in here. I'll never fit in here.'_

"I'll never belong anywhere." Isis said quietly, sitting on the end of her bed, with her head down. The light from outside disappeared as she noticed a shadow coming from her doorway and her head rose.

"Isis?" Zeru asked, standing as he had done when Phoenix's message had first been discovered. Isis thought how strange it was to see Zeru standing rather than hovering mid-air, as he hardly ever stopped doing the latter.

"What?" She asked as she folded her arms and looked at the floor again as the fly-boy entered.

"You Ok?" He asked. Ok, so reassuring people wasn't one of his specialities. Zeru was a master of the air, of manipulating air currents, soaring through the clouds and causing tornadoes and twisters, he was not adept with emotions and all that 'girly stuff' as he called it.

"Why do you care?" Isis asked coldly and Zeru looked slightly put-out, but he didn't shy away.

"Just because you don't show your emotions to everyone else doesn't mean you don't have any." Zeru said and Isis was baffled by how wise he sounded. Zeru seemed surprised too and was momentarily lost for words.

"Look here Genius, what I do, say, think and… _feel…_" Isis added the last word rather reluctantly, "Is _my_ business, not yours so don't go worrying your little head, you'll hurt yourself." Zeru shrugged, being his laid-back self as always.

"Fine; just thought you could use someone to talk to." He folded his arms and looked at her with his head tilted slightly.

"Yeah, well, I don't." Isis said shortly and Zeru nodded;

"Well if you want to talk, you know where to find me." With that he flew to her door, stopping only to say quietly; "Oh and you belong here." With that, he continued out of her room and Isis watched him leave. After a few silent moments she muttered with the most microscopic of smiles;

"Thanks Genius."

"What do you think is up with Phoe then? I mean, I know she hasn't told you anything, but do you have any ideas?" Li asked as Taiyou continued to sit on the sofa with his legs hanging over the back.

"I don't know. She said this morning that she had gotten a message from her Dad the other day and that it had been playing on her mind, maybe it's got something to do with him." Taiyou asked, shrugging.

"To be honest, it's like I don't know her anymore. She's a completely different person to who she was. I mean, you saw how she wanted to get away from us, you even remarked on it. I reckon something's got her majorly freaked." Li looked at him;

"Her Dad?" Taiyou nodded and Li looked confused.

"Like what?"

"I don't know, but it's enough for Phoe to go Super Nova on us." Taiyou said, staring at the ceiling and Li looked up at the main screen.

"And the message, you reckon that was something to do with him?"

"Yep, it's the only reason I can think of. We don't know all that much about Phoe's family do we? Apart from that her parents were in the original group of Titans."

"Yeah I mean, talk about pressure. Everyone expects you to do well when you've got a legend for a Dad and an original titan and alien Princess for a Mom, let alone them being _teachers_ at school too."

"Exactly. Apart from that, we don't really know anything do we? I mean, with crime-fighting super-heroes for parents, her family's bound to have enemies, but the way Phoe's reacted it's got to be something, or someone, bad."

"Someone dangerous enough to threaten _Robin the Great Boy Wonder_? No wonder she's tweaked. I mean, to threaten an original Titan, but the leader?" Taiyou nodded but added;

"Remember, that's only what I've guessed from what she said, he could be completely wrong."

"Yeah, but what else is likely to get her as worked up as this?" Li asked, thinking furiously, Taiyou shrugged, his voice quiet;

"I don't know, it's hard to imagine anything worse."


	7. Chapter 7 Reluctance

I do not own the Teen Titans or anything related to them, however I do own this story and all of the non-original characters except for Isis, who I have been given permission to use by a friend of mine and all are copywrited. This means you can not copy the story or any of the characters or use them without permission from their original owners.

_**Reviewers:**_

**_Lavenderpaw: Thanks, I've read your fic I think, I thought it was cool ._**

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, I was very stuck as to how to move on to the next stage in the plot so I therefore dedicate this chapter and the one before this ((Which I forgot to mention at the beginning of the last chapter)) to my friend Ange-chan, without whom I could not have written this chapter. And now, I hope you enjoy our regular programming.

_**Teen Titans: Alpha**_

**Reluctance**

The room was dark and gloomy, a few red tinged up-lighters were dotted on the walls, giving the room the deepest of un-natural blood red glows. A figure paced the room, nothing more than a silhouette as they stopped and glared at a tattered photograph, pinned to a far wall. A girl with jet black locks, stained with scarlet streaks smiled back, her eyes hidden behind her mask, but the smile was there all the same. She looked younger, perhaps it was an old photograph, it definitely looked it from its tattered edges and the clear cuts and holes caused by frequent punishment certainly added to the aged effect.

"Everything is falling into place… Phoenix continues to run from the truth, but the truth will come out… I'll make sure of it… And when I do…" Another dagger glinted in his hand as he threw it at the picture, piercing the smiling girl right between the eyes.

Phoenix sat on the outside obstacle course of the training room, breathing slightly heavier than usual as she glanced around track. It was a wreck, the lasers lay in shattered pieces, the flying explosive disks had received a taste of their own medicine, the sink holes were covered in skid marks of dust and dirt and the maces lay on the floor in a heap, one of which looked as if it had been thrown at the wall and had a huge dent in it, the holes in the wall behind it stood as testament to this.

As Phoenix looked at the decimated assault course she closed her eyes behind her mask and sighed heavily. She thought of her mother and father. If she'd only gone and visited them like she had been meaning to she wouldn't be so worried and she wouldn't be snapping at her team mates, her friends.

She hugged herself quietly for a moment, then it occurred to her that she hadn't even attempted to check in on her dad. How stupid was she! She could check if he was alright and she'd have no reason to worry anymore! She got to her feet quickly, and was just about to dash to her room to call her dad when the siren went off for the second time today. She hesitated, standing amidst the rubble of the assault course.

When the siren went off Li had looked up and Taiyou had turned so he was now sitting the right way up on the sofa. The main doors opened and Zeru glided in, followed a moment or two later by Isis, who looked at Taiyou. The boy looked at her briefly and they both nodded, coming to a mutual, unspoken apology.

"Who is it?" Zeru asked, looking up at the main screen as Li brought it online.

"I don't know, who ever it is, they aren't in the database and I don't recognise them."

"Should we call Phoe?" Zeru asked tentatively Taiyou thought quietly and nodded;

"She'd want to know, even if she wants to be alone." His voice sounded quieter than usual, even for him and Isis couldn't help but notice the way he seemed to be affected by Phoenix's behaviour more than the rest of them. She'd suspected for some time that there was something that both the flame boy and their leader were not sharing with the rest of the group, but she hadn't actually been able to put a label to it, to define it.

Li nodded and started pressing buttons.

"Phoe, there's an unknown attacker in the city stirring up trouble, are you coming with us?" There was nothing but interference on the communicator line and after a few quiet moments where there was no reply Li spoke again;

"Phoe, whatever's up its ok to want to keep it to yourself, we don't mind, but we only want to help." There was another silence and all the Titans present looked at each other.

"Hey Phoe! Are you coming with us or not!" Zeru asked, his voice louder than he had anticipated and his tone impatient. Taiyou, however had run to the door.

"Dude, where are you going?" Zeru asked, but he, Isis and Li had followed Taiyou out of the door to where the boy ran to the doors of the training room.

"Phoe came this way, after I spoke to her." Taiyou said as he opened the door.

They walked into the training room cautiously. Seeing that everything was as it should be they walked to the door, leading to the outside assault course.

"Man! What happened to the obstacle course!" Zeru exclaimed and Isis finally spoke, her voice as cold and sarcastic as always, but with an undercurrent of what sounded like apprehension.

"I think you mean _who_." Their eyes, however, were drawn to where Taiyou was slowly walking forwards and as their eyes followed his decided path and line of sight they saw what had caught his attention and their eyes widened in shock and alarm…


	8. Chapter 8 Photographs & Falling Princess

I do not own the Teen Titans or anything related to them, however I do own this story and all of the non-original characters except for Isis, who I have been given permission to use by a friend of mine and all are copywrited. This means you can not copy the story or any of the characters or use them without permission from their original owners.

_**Teen Titans: Alpha**_

_**Photographs and falling Princesses**_

Taiyou picked up the tattered photo that lay on the ground, raising to his feet again slowly. Zeru was peering over his shoulder at it whilst Isis stood in silence and Li was wearing a puzzled expression.

"Have you ever seen this before?" Taiyou asked quietly and Zeru shook his head.

"It's Phoenix, but she's younger in that photo. Besides, does that look like it's been torn off something?"

"Yeah, like it's only part of the full picture." Li looked up remembering why they were here.

"Guys! The city, we've got to stop who ever the mystery attacker was!" They all nodded and Taiyou pocketed the photograph before they left for the scene of the trouble.

--------------------------------------

Masked eyes fluttered open slowly. Phoenix lay on the floor, and looked at the fuzzy view opposite her, her head was thumping as she tried to recall what had happened.

_"Hey, Princess! There's someone who wants a little word with you." Phoenix turned round to see a girl standing behind her, a malicious smirk on her face. She had dark skin and cat-like eyes, dressed completely in black with rich dark brown hair, braided at the front. Phoenix glared._

_"Oh yeah? Well tell his Lordship I'm busy." The girl's smirk widened,_

_"I was hoping you'd say something like that."_

_"Bring it on." Phoenix lep into the air as the girl threw a poison tipped ninga starbefore backflipping away. Phoenix continued to spiral upwards before diving downwards, poised for an axe-kick to her head. The girl raised her arms into an X block and pushed Phoenix back into the air. The girl's eyes flashed and out of no where a Tiger lept towards Phoenix._

_"Oh dear." She sped upwards away from the Tiger and was about to call the others when the girl shot her in the back with some sort of gun, electricity surrounded her and shocked her painfully, and Phoenix fell to the ground gracefully and unconcious. Whilst the Tiger returned to the girl's side and she beamed at her success._

As it all came back to her, Phoenix sat up quickly, causing her head to swim.

"What did she do to me?" Phoenix whispered, holding her head to steady herself.

"It's called an Electro Polarity Manipulator gun, if you really want to know, all I really need to know is that it makes Princesses fall from the sky." The girl was back. Was she ready for round two? Then Phoenix's vision finally cleared and she was in a dark holding cell, caged in with bars.

"Where am I?"

"In a cage, his Lordship is absolutely _dying_ to see you." The girl cackled and Phoenix ran forwards, she wanted to strangle her so badly, but as she gripped the bars she was shocked once more and thrown backwards into the wall.

"Awwww the pwetty ickle pwincess got herself shocked. Awww never mind sweety, it won't be long now." _'Oh I can definately wait.'_

---------------------------------------------

As the Titans reached the source of he trouble they discovered a Tiger, Leopard and a huge Boa Constrictor in the middle of the street, terrorising people as they ran away.

"What the?" Zeru asked as they watched the beasts look directly at them.

"Where'd they come from?" Li asked and was soon answered. A girl walked out of a nearby alleyway, on either side of her a Black Panther stalked, their bright green eyes locked on the four Titans.

"You've met my pets I see." Her smirk broadened and she handed one Black Panther a small object. The Panther walked past the other felines and the snake, directly to the Titans. All the animals growled and hissed as it dropped the item and returned to the girl. The Titans instantly recognised it as Phoenix's communicator.

"Where is she?" Taiyou shouted angrilly as Isis surveyed the girl and Li and Zeru glared.

"I do believe that is for me to know and for you to find out." Her smirk widened before she threw a smoke bomb and she and her 'pets' disappeared.

"Ok, what was that all about?" Zeru asked and the Titans looked at each other.

-----------------------------------------

Once the Titans returned to the Tower, they entered the main room and Taiyou set down the tattered photo of Phoenix and her communicator onto the table.

"What do we do now? We can't lock onto Phoe's commnicator, we've got it." Li said as he leaned against the back of the curved sofa. Taiyou looked away from the items on the table.

"I don't know, but Phoe can't deny that there's something going on anymore."


	9. Chapter 9 Red lights and Green eyes

I do not own the Teen Titans or anything related to them, however I do own this story and all of the non-original characters except for Isis, who I have been given permission to use by a friend of mine and all are copywrited. This means you can not copy the story or any of the characters or use them without permission from their original owners.

_**Teen Titans: Alpha**_

_**Red lights and Green eyes**_

"Argh." Phoenix fell, well, was thrown to the floor by two pairs of firmly gripping hands. "How polite of you." She muttered sarcastically as she got to her feet. She glared around, the chamber was dark, cold and gloomy. Shadows outnumbered the light two to one and her eyes began focussing on a chair, a shadowed figure was sitting in it, the back was lit with blood red lights.

"Hello again Phoenix." A cold voice rang out from the direction of the chair and Phoenix raised her head slightly, her glare filled with hatred and her expression full of defiance.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

A red light began flashing on the main screen behind the Titans, they all looked to it immediately. It flashed brightly, a large 'T' in the middle of the flashing red circle.

"Phoe's homing signal." Zeru said quietly, before saying it in a louder, happier tone and helped Li as he started to zoom in on the signal. Taiyou had looked around as soon as he had heard the beeping, but now he looked at Phoe's communicator and the tattered piece of the photo on the table. Isis watched him with a raised brow, as Taiyou turned his back, not only on the items, but his fellow Titans as well.

"It's coming from a small island, just off the coast of the city, looks like the island isn't too big, probably more of a rock in the middle of the water." Li said and Zeru was beaming, he looked at Taiyou, or rather his back, and the silent Isis, even Li seemed apprehensive and hesitant.

"Let's go guys, Phoe needs us!" Zeru said, wondering why they hadn't already leapt for the door at the sound of the news, and why he was trying to encourage the team when that was usually Taiyou's job. "What's with you guys?" Zeru asked, looking around at them all. "Hello? Phoe needs us!" He said in an exasperated tone and Isis and Li looked at Taiyou's back. He was the only one who hadn't looked up at Zeru's words. After a silent moment he looked up, his back was still to his team mates until he spun round.

"Let's find out what's going on."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I see your manners haven't improved much since we last saw each other." Phoenix retorted, her voice filled with anger. "Where is he?" The green eyes opposite her glistened with their owner's smirk.

"Where is who?"

"You know who, my father!" Phoenix said angrily and the dark figure laughed.

"Oh I don't have him Phoenix, not yet anyway. Isn't it amazing how foolish humans can be?" Phoenix's heart sank and her rage grew.

"I'll kill you Pyro. I'LL KILL YOU!" Phoenix screamed and the figure's green eyes narrowed in fury, his voice was cold and hollow.

"It is 'your Highness' to you."

"You'll always be Pyro to me." Phoenix replied, her voice was quiet and steady. She dove for him but a blast issued from the wall, causing a shockwave that knocked both herself and Pyro to the ground. The other Titans stood within the rubble, clouded by dust.

"Phoe!" Li shouted and Phoenix looked to them through the dust, regaining her breath and somehow managing to call out,

"I'm fine!" Pyro was not pleased to say the least.

"Ninjari!" The girl from before appeared;

"Yes your Majesty?"

"Destroy the Titans, their leader is **_mine_**."

"With pleasure." Her tiger, black panthers, boa constrictor and leopard appeared, stalking the Titans before leaping for them and the Titans were drawn into the battle. Phoenix looked at Pyro's smirking face and lunged for him once more. Pyro's green eyes began to glow menacingly, before beams of white hot energy shot towards Phoenix, who had to dive out of the way. The dark and gloomy room fell silent as the battles stopped to witness what had just happened.

"What the?" Zeru asked and Taiyou looked to Phoenix, who turned and looked at the floor.

"Phoe? What's going on?" Pyro laughed, a hollow, cold laugh that caused Phoenix to shiver and cringe.

"You still haven't told them, have you little sister? You still run from the truth." The Titans were all looking at Phoenix now, their leader was still staring at the floor and Pyro and Ninjari were laughing at the confused expressions of the Titans.

"Phoe?" Taiyou asked and Pyro looked to Phoenix and stopped laughing, Phoenix stood there, hoping that that was the end of it, but knew that it wouldn't be.

"Oh I'm not just her brother, I'm her **_twin brother_**." Phoenix glared up at Pyro, but Taiyou had approached Phoenix, she looked over her shoulder slightly and began to wish she hadn't as she looked at the bewildered and hurt expression on his face.

"Phoe?" She looked away from him, from them all; they'd never trust her now. Pyro was laughing once more, his perfect little sister's life was shattered, all thanks to him, and it wouldn't stop there. The Titans didn't know what to do, even Isis was dumbfounded as they all stood there, frozen. Their leader had a brother? No; their leader had a **_twin_**?

Pyro's green eyes began to glow and once more star bolts streamed from his eyes, directed towards the Titans. Li jumped out of the way easily, even though the heat wouldn't affect him too much, and Isis and Zeru helped each other to jump out of the way and dodge the tiger and leopard that were trying to prevent them from moving.

"MOVE!" Phoenix shouted and pushed Taiyou out of the way, before the star bolts hit their target, causing dust to rise up around the point of the explosion.

"PHOENIX!" The shout reached her ears, alerting her to the fact that Taiyou was safe then everything went fuzzy as the pain overloaded her senses and she blacked out.


	10. Chapter 10 Friends, family and faith

I do not own the Teen Titans or anything related to them, however I do own this story and all of the non-original characters except for Isis, who I have been given permission to use by a friend of mine and all are copywrited. This means you can not copy the story or any of the characters or use them without permission from their original owners.

_**Teen Titans: Alpha**_

_**Friends, family and faith**_

Silence had descended on Titan's tower and not the sort of silence that was bearable. Zeru and Li had tried to break the unearthly quiet, even Isis had tried to crack a sarcastic remark, but nothing seemed to work. As soon as they had managed to escape, with Taiyou carrying Phoenix's unconscious form in his arms, the Titans had become as quiet as a graveyard and had all the joyous atmosphere of a funeral.

The sterile environment of the med-bay felt cold and strange. Li stood, constantly monitoring Phoenix's vital signs on a computer screen, with Zeru and Isis aiding him by placing sensors on their leader's limbs and temples and by dressing the burns on her un-covered skin. Taiyou, however, was nowhere to be seen.

As soon as they had returned, Taiyou had promptly laid Phoenix in the med-bay and left just as quickly, walking briskly down the corridor and away from his fellows, leaving his team mates in quiet confusion for a moment before they began busying themselves with their wounded leader. He sat quietly outside, staring into the water that surrounded the tower, occasionally throwing stones so that they skipped across the surface of the still waters. Thoughts were buzzing around in his head, round and round so they made him dizzy, yet he could still hear them, getting louder and louder inside his brain until he wanted to scream. He didn't want to admit it, but he'd been seriously hurt when Phoenix hadn't confided in him, but now it was even worse. Now he wasn't only hurt and upset with his leader, his friend, but he'd lost his faith in her too, something that he'd never thought would happen.

After the careful attention of Li, Zeru and Isis and some well needed rest, Phoenix finally came back to consciousness. With her three carers having decided it would be best to get some rest, Phoenix was left to stare at the ceiling quietly, arguing with herself in her mind. _'What have you done Phoenix? They'll never trust you now. They know the truth, they know about your crazy twin brother. They probably think you're a criminal like him now.' 'No they won't, they're my friends, they won't leave me.' 'What dream world are you living in? They know you've been keeping secrets from them, don't you think that looks a bit suspicious?' 'But they're my friends.' 'Exactly, you've betrayed them.'_

"What have I done?" She asked the ceiling quietly, as tears began to well up in her eyes, though none fell to the bright white sheets.

"You've lied to me, that's what." It was only now that she realised someone else was in the room with her and she recognised the voice instantly. It was the last thing she'd heard before she'd blacked out. She lay silently for a moment as his words seemed to float around the room, before slowly sinking in.

"How long have you been in here?"

"About nine hours." Taiyou said honestly. Phoenix's mind buzzed; _'Nine hours, just sitting in here, watching me lie here?'_

"Why?"

"I wanted to talk to you. I want the answers that I deserve, that your friends deserve Phoe, you do know what friends are don't you?" The tears in Phoenix's eyes welled up even more, but she still refused to let them slide. '_He's angry with me. Can you blame him?'_

"Of course I do, that's exactly why I couldn't tell you."

"Tell us what? That you have a brother? Not just a brother, but a twin brother that's a crazy destructive monster? Phoe we're supposed to be your friends. You're supposed to tell us everything."

"This is none of your business! He's my brother. He's my problem, why do you guys need to know?"

"Because he's your **_brother_** Phoe. He's part of you."

"He will never be part of me." Phoe replied flatly.

"He's your twin Phoe, you can't escape it, he's a part of you, deal with it."

"I've told you, he'll never be a part of me. He's a sly, conniving, evil-"

"Liar? You've lied to us Phoe, seems you have more in common with him than you think."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"I wonder why, maybe it's because you haven't told us anything!" Phoenix sat up now, receiving a rather painful shock to her side from a large burn, but she ignored it as best she could. She looked Taiyou right in the eye, even as her tears finally began to fall.

"Perhaps it's because I knew that you'd all react like this. Perhaps it's because I'm ashamed to have a maniac as a twin brother. Perhaps it's because I don't want to think about what he might be doing out there, or maybe it's the fact that I don't want to admit that I'm absolutely terrified of him!" She broke down then, sobbing into the sheets and Taiyou was taken aback. He had expected an outburst, an angry flare, perhaps even violence, but not anything like this. After watching her cry for a shocked and silent few seconds he finally replied quietly.

"Why be terrified of your own brother? I mean, I know he's bad, but surely-"

"You have no idea!" Phoe interrupted, drying her eyes furiously, though her tears were instantly replaced, though her violent sobs had stopped now. "You don't know what he's **_really _**like. If you knew him you'd know that today was a **_good day_**."

"Like I said Phoe, you haven't told us anything. I thought you trusted us, I thought you trusted **_me_**." Phoenix looked at him and once again saw the hurt expression in his face that made her feel so inadequate, but this time it seemed hardened, as if it were a fixed mask that couldn't be broken, a mask that clearly showed a deep, dark disappointment that she couldn't bear to see.

"I do trust you." She replied quietly, with all the volume of a door mouse, which was quite out of character for the confident leader.

"You have a funny way of proving it." Taiyou said shortly, causing Phoenix to feel even worse.

"What do you want from me? I'm not perfect ok, I never said I was. Am I not allowed to make mistakes, to keep things to myself? Come on Taiyou, what is it you want from me?" Phoenix asked, her tone angry and upset. She'd thought Taiyou, of all people, would be the one to stand by her side, she hadn't thought for one minute that he'd be like this. She looked at his face now, his expression was bewildered and startled, as if he didn't know or didn't have an answer for her question, or if he did he didn't want to say. Seeing him, sat in the corner, it made her feel terrible, weak and disgusted with herself, it did not help when she remembered he'd sat in the room for nine hours, waiting for her to wake up and the guilt poured into the uneasy and horrid mix of emotions in her stomach. Had he been worried? Or was he just angry? _'Probably the second.'_ Phoe thought, with a bitterness and disappointment that she couldn't explain.

"Fine, I'll tell you, just don't tell the others."

"Phoe, they have a right to know."

"Promise me you won't tell them! Please Taiyou, you asked me if I trusted you and I do, I trust you not to break your promise. Please." Taiyou looked thoughtful then reluctantly replied with;

"Alright, I promise."


	11. Chapter 11 Cold rooms, words, and hearts

I do not own the Teen Titans or anything related to them, however I do own this story and all of the non-original characters except for Isis, who I have been given permission to use by a friend of mine and all are copywrited. This means you can not copy the story or any of the characters or use them without permission from their original owners. Check out the mini-fics by my friend, Starfire Fury, called Teen Titans: Alpha Humor, they're mini-fics about these characters and they're really good and absolutely hilarious, so go read them!

**I'd also like to dedicate this chapter to Starfire Fury (yes you Angel-chan!) because she has such amazing drawing and writing skills and well, I just want to so :P Anyway, on with the next chapter!**

_**Teen Titans: Alpha**_

_**Cold rooms, cold words, cold hearts**_

The next morning in Titan's Tower was as silent as the night before. Isis, Zeru and Li all sat mutely in the kitchen, quietly eating cereal. Barely a word was spoken, unless you call 'Pass the milk please' sparkling conversation. Un-aired thoughts about the 24 hours before filled the room like invisible smoke, choking the Titans so they couldn't speak. What they didn't realise, was that their missing team mates hadn't been so silent, they didn't know that Phoenix had been sobbing through her words, or that Taiyou had been the perfect image of hard-faced disappointment.

Phoenix hadn't gotten so much as a minutes sleep all night, she'd been staring quietly at the ceiling due to the lack of windows, in fact the only indication that it was now morning was the digital clock on the opposite wall. The eyes that were hidden behind her mask were still red and puffy from her crying the night before. Taiyou had left barely two hours ago, just before the other Titans awoke and he hadn't left in the best of circumstances.

-------------------------------------------------

"Phoe, why can't we tell the others? They have a right to know and you know it!"

"Taiyou please! I trust you! Please, please don't tell them!"

"Phoe, it's not you're fault, they won't blame you."

"No but they'll judge me! Not that they haven't already"

"they won't and if they did could you blame them? You're the one that started this whole mess by not telling us."

"I was just keeping a promise!"

"A promise to who!"

"A promise to my parents! You'd know what that's like wouldn't you!" Taiyou's face fell and he became deadly silent, looking at the floor.

"-Taiyou, I'm sorry." However, Taiyou had gotten to his feet and his face was so stony and angry that Phoenix was taken aback.

"Don't speak to me." With that he left and Phoenix was left cold, empty and alone.

-------------------------------------------------

Phoenix looked to the sheets quietly, as she tried to hug away the heavy, yet empty feeling in her heart.

-------------------------------------------------

Taiyou was once again skipping stones into the waters surrounding Titan's Tower, only this time they seemed to be plunging into the deep blue depths with is anger and the odd few fizzed as the fire that surrounded them was extinguished. It as after a particularly angry throw and an equally loud splash that Taiyou sunk to his knees and stared at the water. He'd promised his parents he would do his best to protect everyone, he'd make the most of his powers and not let anyone feel the pain that they'd felt. Phoe wasn't the only one with a brother, or at least Taiyou had had a brother.

Taiyou and his little brother, Leo had been out playing when they'd been caught out in a storm. They'd been running home when a gang had stopped them. Taiyou had tried his best, but he wasn't allowed to use his powers to hurt people, or in public to that fact. They grabbed Leo and Taiyou had yelled and fought so much that they'd pushed him to the floor and he'd broken his arm. Leo fell with a quiet moan to the floor as the gang ran away, leaving Taiyou to try and cradle his little brother in his arms and frantically tell him not to close his eyes as help finally came upon them.

Leo had died later that night from his injuries. Taiyou had felt so guilty, but nothing compared to his parents, they had been the ones to tell him not to use his powers. Taiyou had promised them that everything would be alright and that he'd use his powers to help and protect others.

So he'd left for the Titan's Academy and he'd met Li, Zeru, Isis and Phoenix. _'_

"Phoenix… I wish I'd never even set eyes on her." Taiyou breathed with a deep rage burning inside him, but that soon burned itself out into an empty pain.

-------------------------------------------------

"Do you think Phoe is going to be ok?" Zeru asked quietly, Li nodded.

"She should be, she's tough, she'll pull through."

"I don't think its Phoenix you should be worried about." Isis said with a deadly quite tone to her voice. Li and Zeru looked at her, then looked into their respective cereal bowls.

"Yeah, did you see Taiyou's face. I mean, he's always been the first once to agree with her hasn't he? His face, it was like, like stone."

"Ze's right. I've never seen him like that, it was even worse than when you two were arguing yesterday." Isis nodded. She had a theory, a theory she was keeping to herself, not only because she was Taiyou's friend, but also because she always liked to keep little secrets that she could 'use' if you like, which by that I mean use to tease.

"Someone's going to have to talk to him." Li said quietly, looking out of the window.

"You do it." Zeru said quickly, his tone nervous.

"You do it." Li said, just as quickly in reply and Isis sighed, which cased the boys to cease their squabble.

"We'll do what we always do." Isis said finally and they both nodded in agreement.


	12. Chapter 12 Scowls, sorrow and 'sorry'

I do not own the Teen Titans or anything related to them, however I do own this story and all of the non-original characters except for Isis, who I have been given permission to use by a friend of mine and all are copywrited. This means you can not copy the story or any of the characters or use them without permission from their original owners. Check out the mini-fics by my friend, Starfire Fury, called Teen Titans: Alpha Humor, they're mini-fics about these characters and they're really good and absolutely hilarious, so go read them!

_**Don't forget to rate and review people or I won't be able to improve! Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter, its a bit shorter than usual, at least I think it is, anyway, here we go, chapter 12!**_

_**Teen Titans: Alpha**_

_**Scowls, sorrow and 'sorry'**_

Isis scowled as Li and Zeru beamed smiled of relief.

"Better go and talk to him then Isis." Zeru said and Isis was on the verge of giving him a one way ticket to an ice sculpture exhibit, when Li nodded.

"Go on, you agreed with us, someone needs to talk him." Isis glowered, but left the breakfast bar and approached the doors to the corridor.

"Good luck." Zeru said quietly and Isis nodded silently before walking outside.

Another thud and a splash told Isis that she needed to keep a safe distance between herself and Taiyou, just as a precaution. She sat down silently on a rock a good few feet from him as he threw another rock into the deep blue waters.

"What do you want?" He snapped and Isis raised a brow, even she was surprised at the change in Taiyou and she had an inkling about why he was so upset.

"I thought you might want to talk."

"About what?" Isis winced slightly at the snap to his worse, it was covered in an icy tone even greater than her own.

"About why you're trying to evaporate the sea around the Tower." Isis replied calmly and Taiyou sighed, turning to look at her with a sort of, hard faced sadness and disappointment, a sorrow that not even she had expected.

"I don't know Isis. It's all messed up."

"What's all messed up? You and Phoenix?" Taiyou's face darkened.

"Don't even mention her." Isis couldn't believe she'd already put her foot in it so early into the conversation.

"Taiyou, what's happened? Have you spoken to her? Has she woken up?"

"Why would you care?"

"Taiyou." Isis said sternly and the flame boy looked back at the sea.

"Yes she's awake, but I'm not sure she deserves to be." He added with a deadly tone to it that was so unlike him.

"Don't say that."

"Why are you defending her? You hate her!" Taiyou shouted and Isis couldn't help but shout back, no matter how calm she tried to be.

"I don't hate her! Besides, why aren't you defending her?"

"Because she's not who I thought she was. She's lied to us all and-"

"I don't think she's changed." Isis replied flatly, causing Taiyou to gape slightly in disbelief.

"How can you say that? She lied to us, she put us all in danger-"

"She saved your life. I don't think she's changed, you know it deep down too, she's the same Phoenix, she's the same Phoenix and you know it." Taiyou looked at Isis now and they both nodded at each other, another one of their silent agreements, a silent truce. Isis got up to go back inside as Taiyou broke the silence,

"Isis, thanks for coming and talking to me, y'know, making me snap out of it."

"Don't worry about it. Besides, we drew straws… I lost." She walked back inside silently and Taiyou was left with a small smile on his face, as he shook his head slightly.

Phoenix looked at herself in he mirror as she fixed her mask and stared at the unhappy reflection in the mirror. She sighed heavily and turned, brushing the creases out of the sheets on the bed absentmindedly. She looked around the med-bay silently and approached the door. She walked back to her room and, upon arrival took out her special pink and red notepad and a pen. She hurriedly wrote a note and collected a few things together and put them into a bag. She gave the room a sweeping glance and stepped into the corridor, walking to Taiyou's room and taping the simple note - 'I'm sorry' - onto the door she sighed and began to walk away, before running around the corner and flying down the corridor and leaving the tower silently.


	13. Chapter 13 Family matters

I do not own the Teen Titans or anything related to them, however I do own this story and all of the non-original characters except for Isis, who I have been given permission to use by a friend of mine and all are copywrited. This means you can not copy the story or any of the characters or use them without permission from their original owners. Check out the mini-fics by my friend, Starfire Fury, called Teen Titans: Alpha Humor, they're mini-fics about these characters and they're really good and absolutely hilarious, so go read them!

_**Teen Titans: Alpha**_

_**Family matters**_

Knocking could be heard from the door of the classroom and the resident Professor was surprised when a teenage girl flung her arms around his neck, without so much as a 'Hello'. He was just thinking about how embarrassing this situation would have been if he had had a class that afternoon when he recognised the jet black and scarlet stained head.

"Phoenix? What are you doing here? Why aren't you in Jump City?" A sniffle announced the fact that Phoenix was crying and the Professor held her tightly.

"The Titans, my friends... They know about Pyro." The masked eyes of Phoenix's father softened to a close as he nodded and pushed her away gently so he could look at her face.

"I'm guessing it wasn't you who told them." Phoenix nodded. She loved the way nothing got past her dad, it meant she didn't have to explain herself half the time, he always seemed to understand. Her mom had said that it was because she was so much like him, but somehow she didn't feel she deserved such a comment right now.

"Pyro told them. What are we going to do dad, I thought Pyro was supposed to be on Tameran."

"Like I said in my message, he somehow got away from his carers there. Your mother had gone to see him, by the time she got there he was gone, they had all the servants searching for hours."

"Well that's their problem! They should've kept a closer eye on him!"

"It's not their fault Phoe, if Pyro wanted to get away without being noticed then he would get away without being noticed." He looked at his daughter and sighed. "They couldn't have stopped him even if they had tried."

"Why now? Why come now?... I'll find him. I'll find him and I'll-"

"You won't find him if he doesn't want to be found." Robin replied flatly and Phoenix slumped into a chair. "He's stubborn and determined, just like you and me, no matter how much he hates that fact."

"So if I'm so much like him," She said reluctantly, "then shouldn't I be able to find him?" She grinned hopefully and Robin smiled.

"Nice try. Look if you really want to find him that badly, then do what you think is right, but promise me that you won't do anything you'll regret."

"Oh I won't regret anything." Phoenix muttered quietly.

"Phoenix." Robin said sternly and Phoenix looked him in the eye. "He's your brother, remember that."

"And who's fault is that? Besides, he's a flooping maniac."

"Maybe. Pyro has his own ideas,just as we have ours. Pyro thinks he's right, that's all."

"Plus you're our dad and can't say anything bad against him."

"That may be true-" Robin stuttered, but Phoenix interrupted him;

"Don't worry, I get it. I don't thump him too hard unless he **_really_** deserves it."

------------------------------------------------------------

After finding the med-bay silent and deserted, the Titans were left searching the Tower for any signs of their leader. After not finding anything in their chosen search areas, Taiyou and Li had gone to the Common room to wait for the others.

"Did you find anything?" Li asked as Zeru flew in through the doors to the common room.

"Nah, nothing, apart from the fact that her motorbike has gone from the garage." Taiyou was looking out of the window, his face looked troubled and thoughtful. A 'swoosh' from the doors proceeded Isis as she walked in, her face was unreadable and she was clutching a piece of red and pink note paper.

"Isis what is it?" Li asked and Isis held out the paper.

"I found this, it was taped to Taiyou's door." Taiyou looked up now, and reached for the paper, not sure if he wanted to read it or not. He looked at it and read the two simple words written there in what was unmistakably Phoenix's handwriting.

"Well Tae, what does it say?" Zeru asked, as all three of them looked at him. Taiyou looked back at the paper, reading it again as it sank in. He got up, clutching the paper in his hand.

"It says 'I'm sorry'." He said, throwing the now crumpled paper onto the floor. Isis picked it back up and Li and Zeru looked over her shoulders as they all read it for themselves.

"She's gone after him. She's gone after Pyro."

"How do you know that? All it says on the paper is that she's sorry. She could have just... gone out for a walk." Li said, his voice rational, though he spoke slowly as he chose his words.

"You guys don't get it. You don't know what she's told me."

"So what has she told you?" Zeru asked and Taiyou ran a hand through his permanently messy hair.

"I can't tell you, she made me promise not to."

"Dude come on! She's disappeared, it could be important!"

"Oh I know it's important, but she made me promise not to tell you, I won't break my word." Taiyou replied stubbornly. It had become well known through out their time at the Academy that Taiyou was fiercely loyal, he wouldn't break his promise even if his life depended on it.

"Taiyou, **_I promise_** you now, if you don't tell us you'll regret it." Isis said in her usual, quiet and icy tone. Taiyou's face darkened with a questioning anger.

"Are you threatening me?"

"No, what I'm saying is, what I'm asking is, is that could you bear to have someone else's life on your shoulders when you have the knowledge that you could help them, that you could save them?" Isis said, her tone final, absolute, as sharp as a blade and just as definite. Taiyou looked to the floor, as Zeru and Li looked at each other, they never spoke about Taiyou's family, they didn't really speak about anyone's, though they all knew what had gone on in their lives, well at least they thought they had until they found out about Phoenix and her brother.

Taiyou sighed, looking back up from the floor, looking Isis straight in the eye.

"You know I couldn't."


	14. Chapter 14 Fear and Flashbacks

I do not own the Teen Titans or anything related to them, however I do own this story and all of the non-original characters except for Isis, who I have been given permission to use by a friend of mine and all are copywrited. This means you can not copy the story or any of the characters or use them without permission from their original owners. Check out the mini-fics by my friend, Starfire Fury, called Teen Titans: Alpha Humor, they're mini-fics about these characters and they're really good and absolutely hilarious, so go read them!

_**Teen Titans: Alpha**_

_**Fear and Flashbacks**_

Isis nodded and Taiyou closed his eyes for a moment. "Fine. But, for the record, I didn't want to tell you." The three Titans nodded and they all sat down, with a silence that seemed deafening, a silence that sent a shiver down their spines. Taiyou ran a hand through his permanently messy hair and sighed. The Titans couldn't help but notice his tired appearance and it left them wondering whether he'd had any sleep for the past few days.

"Phoe didn't want me to tell you, but, well here goes... We all know that Phoe and Pyro are twins-"

"Yeah I think we got that." Zeru interrupted impatiently and Isis shushed him, nodding at Taiyou to continue, causing Zeru to scowl.

"Well Phoe told me that they've been separated ever since they were little-"

"But why?" Li interrupted and Isis was frustrated now;

"Will you two just shut up and let Taiyou finish? Please!" Li and Zeru pouted like naughty school children, but were quiet now all the same, whereas Taiyou just looked as tired as ever.

"They've been separated from birth because of Pyro. He's never accepted Phoe's dad. He 's been violent since he was little and tried to kill him and Phoe when he was small. Phoe says that Pyro has turned his back on his human blood, he's denounced his father and the fact that his half human and considers himself to be purely Tameranian. He hates Phoenix because she won't turn her back on her father, he wants to kill her because he considers human blood to be weak and that weaknesses are not acceptable."

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Robin watched his daughter silently as she slept on the sofa in the teacher's lounge. He could see the likeness between them that Starfire kept talking about, if it were him he wouldn't have been getting much sleep, if at all and he could see the same tired look in Phoenix's features. _'She has her mother's beauty though.' _He thought as he watched her sleep. He closed his eyes in thought, remembering the day that this whole sorry affair started...

_"I'm not going to leave you Robin, I shan't! Earth is my home and I love you. I will not go!"_

_"But Pyro can't stay here, I don't care what he tries to do to me, but I won't let him hurt his sister, I won't let him hurt Phoenix. Pyro has to go and you're the only one he'll listen to. You're his mother-"_

_"And you're his father, but you can not go with him and neither can I. I love you and I love Phoenix, I love Pyro as well, but I will not leave my home, **my daughter and my husband **not for anyone-"_

_"Not even me? Star, I can't bare to see you away from him, you're his mother it will kill you."_

_"And it will not kill you?"_

_"He doesn't want me, you know that-"_

_"I know, but I won't go."_

_"Are you sure? Are you sure this is what you want?"_

_"Yes. Pyro will be safe and happy on Tameran, it is best for him. I shall visit him regularly but I am not going anywhere."_

Robin reopened his eyes and continued to watch Phoenix silently. He hadn't meant it to go this way, neither he nor Starfire had, they had only wished to do what was best for their children, but now he feared that the situation was hopeless, a feeling that he wasn't ready to accept.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

"He's crazy." Zeru muttered and Taiyou nodded.

"I can't believe it, I mean, disowning your own father just because of his blood. Can imagine how he felt?" Isis' face was blank as the others stared at the floor.

"So where did they send Pyro? Starfire wouldn't just leave either of them would she? Pyro didn't reject her, and even though Pyro didn't accept Robin I bet the pair of them still loved him, love him now in fact, after all he's their son."

"Blood ties don't matter to everyone." Isis said quietly and coldly and Taiyou nodded.

"That's true, but they did matter to Starfire. She wouldn't leave Robin and Phoe though and Earth was more of a home than Tameran to her. They sent him to Tameran as he wouldn't hurt them or anything like that and Starfire went to visit him. Robin tried to visit him, but after the first visit went sour he didn't try to see him again... Phoe doesn't know exactly why Pyro's here, after all if he wanted to kill her he would've tried as soon as he got here, at least that's what she thinks."

"So that's why she's been so distracted then? She's been trying to second guess him all the time." Li asked quietly and Taiyou found it hard not to tell them how Phoenix had broken down, how she'd cried, how she'd shaken with fear as she spoken about Pyro and all that he relayed to the Titans; his faith had been shaken in her, he didn't want to do the same to the others. Zeru was sitting, looking at the floor with his head in his hands, pulling at his hair in frustration.

"So she's gone after him?" Taiyou nodded. "Is she mad?" Taiyou sighed,

"I don't know, I really don't." Taiyou replied with a defeated tone that mad Li, Zeru and Isis look at each other.

Phoenix was gone, they didn't know where she'd gone and there was her maniac brother to think about.

"What a mess eh?" Li said and it was a good job Zeru had stopped pulling at his hair, else he would've been bald by now.

"We've got to stop her! We've got to stop her Tae!"

"You think I don't know that? She's gone Ze! What're we supposed to do."

"That's easy." Isis said quietly, causing the boys to look at her.

"Think, if you were Phoenix and you couldn't turn to anyone else who would you turn to? Who would you go to help to?" Zeru and Li shrugged, but the penny dropped with Taiyou.

"You think she's gone back?" Zeru and Li looked at each other as Isis nodded her reply.


	15. Chapter 15 Flights down memory lane

I do not own the Teen Titans or anything related to them, however I do own this story and all of the non-original characters except for Isis, who I have been given permission to use by a friend of mine and all are copywrited. This means you can not copy the story or any of the characters or use them without permission from their original owners. Check out the mini-fics by my friend, Starfire Fury, called Teen Titans: Alpha Humor, they're mini-fics about these characters and they're really good and absolutely hilarious, so go read them!

_**Teen Titans: Alpha**_

_**Flights down memory lane**_

The quiet hallways of the Academy were quite eerie as Isis and Taiyou led Zeru and Li through the corridors.

"So you think she came back here then?"

"Duh, else we wouldn't be here." Li muttered back to Zeru, who stuck his tongue out in reply.

"Why is it so quiet?" Isis asked and Taiyou shrugged.

"Lessons are on, else these corridors would probably be packed."

"Which room are we looking for?" Zeru asked and Taiyou stopped abruptly,

"This one." The wooden door had a glass window in it and they could see that there was only the teacher inside, well two teachers to be precise. They seemed to be having a discussion, which the Titans failed to hear from outside, well until it got a bit more heated...

"**You just let her go?**"

"I couldn't stop her, you know how determined she is."

"**She gets that from you, they both do.**"

"You're not such a quitter yourself you know." The red haired woman sighed.

"I'm just worried that's all."

"I know me too." The room went quiet and the Titans looked at each other, before Li nudged Taiyou to knock the door. Taiyou didn't appreciate this and was just about to retort when the two teachers realised that they had visitors and opened the door. The Titans smiled sheepishly and Starfire just smiled back.

"Yes?" They were just about to explain why they were there when she added; "She's not here."

"We kind of guessed." Zeru muttered, earning a sharp jab in the ribs from Isis' elbow. He stood there rubbing the rising bruise as they were ushered into the classroom.

"We guessed that Phoenix would have come to you for help." Isis stated, getting straight to the point with the sort of bluntness that only she could get away with.

"Well you'd be right, she did come to see me, but I'm afraid she's gone now." Robin replied and Taiyou immediately asked,

"How long since she left?" Robin raised a masked brow and looked at the clock on the far wall.

"She left at noon, so that's an hour ago now."

"That means she could be anywhere right now, especially if she took her bike." Robin nodded. The Titans looked crestfallen as Starfire and Robin looked at each other, though Isis noticed that there seemed to be something else besides worry in the look they were sharing. It seemed to her that they were not telling them everything and she was soon to find out that her suspicions were correct as Starfire nodded to Robin who nodded in return.

"She left this behind." He opened up his top desk draw and pulled out a small red and pink envelope and the Titans instantly recognised it as being from the same set as her previous note. "It addressed to you." He placed it on the desk as the Titans looked at it in quiet thought for a moment and Taiyou picked it up, reading the twirly blue writing on the front that he recognised instantly as Phoenix's.

-------------------------------------------------------

The wind blew her hair back as her bike raced along the road. A silent tear rolled down her face, splashing against the base of her helmet's visor. _'I'm sorry guys. I really am.'_ She revved up once more and accelerated further away from her past, from her friends and family.

-------------------------------------------------------

Taiyou noticed some slight staining to the envelop and small smears and runs in the writing on the envelope and he soon realised that Phoenix had cried when she'd written the note. The front bore the simple addressee of _'The Titans'_ and Isis, Zeru and Li all looked over his shoulders as he opened the envelope, opened the letter inside and began to read.

_'Dear Titans. I would put 'Dear friends' but it has been pointed out to me that I haven't been a very good friend lately and so I don't want to insult you...' _Taiyou bit his lip at this as he continued to read.

_'... I wanted to say that I am sorry for not treating you with the proper respect that you all deserve. I should have told you about Py- my brother, but I guess I thought you'd hate me if you knew and that you wouldn't want to be my friend in case he came after you, but I guess I should have told you anyway...' _The same thought ran through all of the Titan's heads at that moment - _'How could she think that?'_

_'... The truth is, I'm not perfect, even though I wish I was sometimes. All I'm trying to say is, is that I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not believing and trusting in you like you did in me, I'm sorry for betraying your trust in me and I'm sorry for not respecting you as my friends._

_But most of all I'm sorry for shutting out the friends I care about so much, exactly when I needed them most._

_I know I don't deserve to ask things of you, but please, please, please, do this for me; Do not come looking for me. Do not follow me. Do not try to find me. This is between me and him and I don't want him hurting any of you in the process. Please, just stay away._

_I'm sorry._

_Phoenix.'_

The Titans all gulped as they finished reading the letter. Taiyou's mouth felt drained of all moisture as he bit his lip once more. Li and Zeru were actually lost for words and Isis was even more silent than usual, if that was possible. You see, despite all their bickering, their playful snipes and their full blown fights, they were friends, a unified group of people who shared this bond of friendship that they thought no one could break.

"Do you have any idea where she's gone?" Isis asked and Robin nodded.

"She gone after her brother."

"We'd guessed she had." Taiyou said quietly, finally finding he was able to speak.

"Do you know where he'll be?" Robin and Starfire looked at each other.

"I'll tell you what I told Phoenix, if Pyro doesn't want to be found then he won't be found." Robin looked at the replay of their crestfallen faces that he was replied with now.

"However, Pyro knows that Phoenix will come after him, and so will want to be found, which Phoenix knows too. So I can say, with quite a degree of certainty in my logic that Pyro will be in the most obvious place so that Phoenix will find him."

"Where's that?" Zeru and Li asked quietly and Robin smiled.

"Exactly where she left him. Where you left him." The Titans all looked at each other and then at their mentors as Starfire nodded at the logic after a moment, she was good at puzzles, but with such worry and stress occupying her mind she was bound to find things harder to follow.

The penny seemed to drop with Isis and Robin and Starfire weren't surprised when they were left standing in the classroom alone.

-----------------------------------------------

"It'll take us ages to get there!" Zeru shouted against the wind as he flew above the T-Car, that Li had based on Cyborg's original 'Baby', where Li, Taiyou and Isis were speeding along.

"We'll just have to go faster then won't we?" Li remarked as Taiyou and Isis nodded their replies.

----------------------------------------------

"Hello again Pyro." The room was just as dark as before, though Phoenix's face displayed a more defiant look than ever before.

"I thought I told you never to call me that."

"Maybe, but to be honest I really don't give a damn." Pyro's fists clenched at the insolence of his sister.

"You know you could make this so easy. You could make life so much easier by renouncing your father. Its that simple dear little sister. Denounce your filthy human blood and join me. It is a simple enough choice."

"You're right, it is a simple choice. Here's my simple answer: Go to Hell." Pyro slammed his fist in anger.

"Oooooo temper, temper big brother, you wouldn't want to set a bad example now would you?" She barely dodged the mass of green star bolts that flew her way. However the fact that she did manage to dodge, left her rather unprotected for the blast of electricity that circled her body. She collapsed to the floor as her nerves spasmed in shock.

"You know you really shouldn't anger his Highness, Princess. You won't stand a chance." The same girl from before was standing over her, holding one of those shock guns over her.

"Ninjari... Take her to the Morana room." Ninjari and Pyro smirked smiled that made Phoenix's blood run cold.

"Yes your Highness... Gladly." She once again stunned Phoenix with the Electro Polarity Manipulator gun, causing Phoenix's nerves to burn and sting once more before she blacked out.


	16. Chapter 16 Morana

I do not own the Teen Titans or anything related to them, however I do own this story and all of the non-original characters except for Isis, who I have been given permission to use by a friend of mine and all are copywrited. This means you can not copy the story or any of the characters or use them without permission from their original owners. Check out the mini-fics by my friend, Starfire Fury, called Teen Titans: Alpha Humor, they're mini-fics about these characters and they're really good and absolutely hilarious, so go read them!

Just another note, you will find in this chapter that there is a reference to an accident in which Li was involved. This refers to the story of how he got his powers, which can bee found under **Teen Titans: The Alpha Five**. Also, no actual creatures were harmed in the writing of this fan fic and the fictional ones in this story only received minor injuries and I am assured by the fictional vet that they will make full recoveries.

_**Teen Titans: Alpha**_

_**Morana**_

When Phoenix came back to consciousness she felt a shiver run up her spine, though she wasn't sure if it was due to the freezing temperature of her surroundings or whether it was the evil smirks of her captors. As the full extent of her senses came back to life, she realized that she was tied up at the feet and ankles and that her breath was causing small whisps of fog like steam to twirl in the cold air.

"Welcome to the Morana Room, sister." Phoenix shivered once more, especially when she realized that she was not only tied up, but tied to the insides of a cage, which as she peered trough the bars, she could see was suspended over a pool of water and let's just say it wasn't going to be like a Jacuzzi in there.

She glared at her brother as Ninjari held the EPM gun on her, just to make sure there were no sudden movements.

"So are you going to get on with this and kill me, or what?" Phoenix asked defiantly and Pyro grinned, but it wasn't the sort of grin Phoenix thought she should tangle with, but was that going to stop her doing it anyway? … NAH!

"Patience, dear sister, for the fun is yet to begin."

Li had pushed the T-Car as much as he would allow, though that might not have been too much as he'd become as protective of the vehicle as Cyborg had with it's predecessor. However, they'd gotten there, question was had they gotten there soon enough?

As Isis froze a path across to the small island, Li and Taiyou walked after her, with Zeru flying above, the waters had become rougher than before and they weren't going to trust to luck, no matter how strong they knew Isis could freeze things.

Little did they know that someone was watching them approach…

The girl, Ninjari, was speaking to the tiger that had appeared by her side. Phoenix wasn't able to make out what they were saying, after all she was speaking some weird language, though she didn't have to wait long to find out what the conversation had been about.

"Your Highness, there are people approaching the island. It looks like the rest of the Titans Alpha, sir." Pyro's face lit up – he looked like Christmas had come early. Phoenix's eyes widened beneath her mask. At first she felt relieved that someone was coming for her, but now she felt terrified and furious. She'd warned them not to come, to stay away, what if he hurt them? What if he killed them?

"Excellent…" He looked into Phoenix's eyes, well tried to despite her mask. He could imagine the eyes behind them and it was these that he saw when he looked at her. Phoenix hated it when he looked at her like that. She felt as if her mask wasn't there anymore, it was as if he was tearing down her last line of defense, making her vulnerable – an easy target.

"Ninjari, take care of them… Oh and make sure that they suffer…" Ninari nodded with a malicious grin towards Phoenix.

"Yes, my Lord." With that Ninjari left, leaving her 'Lordship' and Phoenix alone in the frightfully cold room. By now Phoenix had noticed that her brother was wearing a warm jacket over the top of his usual outfit to keep him warm, she, however, had not been considered when the warm clothing had been given out.

"So is this how you're going to kill me then, by freezing me to death?" Her tone was still full of defiant hope, but Pyro would soon be doing his best to crush that.

"Oh don't think it will be that easy, sister dear." Something in his tone suggested that Pyro had something much worse up his sleeve and Phoenix couldn't help but shiver.

"I'm guessing this is the welcoming committee." Zeru asked, as animals began to emerge from the trees the moment they stepped foot on the island. However it wasn't the animals that waere bothering Isis, it was the surprise that she had received at this comment – she didn't think Zeru knew such long words as 'committee'. The animals were soon joined by their leader, Ninjari appeared and roared, causing the animals to attack.

"Spread out!" Taiyou shouted as the Titans split up, each with an animal or two of their own to contend with.

Pyro was watching the show in the Morana room so that Phoenix could see the 'Destruction of her friends' as he'd put it. Phoenix flinched as she saw a large leopard leaping towards the screen, the image of Zeru flying away from the dangerous feline.

As two black panthers circled Isis, Phoenix wanted to scream 'Get out of the way!' but she couldn't seem to find her voice as fear paralyzed her, though relief flowed through her as the two black panthers were blocked by gigantic spires of ice and Isis was safe, for now.

Taiyou was being confronted by Ninjari's most loyal 'pet', a large tiger was glaring at Taiyou, circling him until it lunged for him. Phoenix flinched, though her eyes immediately returned to the screen to see the tiger backing away from Taiyou, as he wafted his hand in front of him, the fire that circled it caused the tiger to back off in fear.

Li was grappling with the boa constrictor. As the snake used all its strength to try and crush Li, Li was using all of the strength he had to pull it off him. It was times like these that Li truly appreciated the accident he'd been in all those years ago. He gritted his teeth and pulled the snake off him, throwing it as far away has he could, which was quite far; it would take the reptile a good while to return.

Ninjari was furious at this and lunged at Li with a dagger that she pulled from her boot, though Zeru managed to swoop away from the leopard, causing the wild cat to lunge for him, thereby colliding with Ninjari and pushing her to the floor, knocking her unconscious due to the impact.

"Thanks Ze." Li breathed, still getting his breath back from the life-squeezing hug that the boa constrictor had given him.

"Don't mention it." Zeru grinned, before helping Taiyou and Isis to back all of the remaining animals into a huddle and imprisoning them in a sold ice cage.

"Bad kitties. Very bad kitties." Zeru muttered gleefully, waving a finger at them as he told them off. Isis smacked him around the back of the head.

"Get a grip, we don't have time for this." He nodded, but looked quite peeved that his fun had been stopped as they ventured inside, leaving the unconscious form of Ninjari in her own icy confinement.

"It looks like your friends are coming for you, I might have underestimated them." Pyro said, though he was still smirking. Phoenix looked at the screen, relieved that they were all still ok, though she couldn't help but think that Pyro had something else in store.

"Take one last look at them sister, because you won't be seeing them again." The screen was shut off, leaving Phoenix to wonder whether her last lifeline, her last shred of hope was coming or not.

Pyro rose to his feet, turning to grin at his sister in a cold blooded, evil way. He pushed a button on the panel that he'd been sitting next to and Phoenix felt the cage jerk slightly, causing her to jump.

"I'm so sorry, dear sister that I won't be here to see your final moments, but I have better things to attend to." He laughed manically before leaving as Phoenix and her cage were slowly lowered into the icy ridden pool that was below her.

She struggled to her feet as best as she could, trying to get away from the freezing depths. She tried to hover as best as she could, but the chains were holding her to the bars and the roof of the cage was too low.

She felt the stabbing cold pains that the icy water caused to her skin, muscles and blood as she felt the water rise around her ankles, seeping through her boots as if they were tissue paper. She yelped slightly at the pain that felt like ice-cold blades, slashing at her nerves.

"HELP! HELP ME! I'M IN HERE! HELP ME!" She screamed, finding her voice once more and screaming with her utter panic and terror. This was it; this was how she was going to die.

"HELP ME!"

Pyro smirked as the Titans approached him at a run, all four of them, poised to attack, it was just that Taiyou had gotten there first. He lunged for Pyro and Pyro was too busy smirking to dodge, thus he found himself pinned to the floor.

"Where is she?" Taiyou growled, as the other three Titans covered him, Pyro however just laughed.

"You do realize she'll be dead by now." Taiyou shook him.

"Where is she?" He asked with a harsh tone and gritted teeth.

"Get off me."

"Where is she?"

"I said get off me." With that, Pyro's eyes glowed green and Taiyou had to quickly roll off of him to avoid being burnt by the intense starbolts sent his way. Li had stepped in front of Isis and Zeru, blocking them from the starbolts as he could withstand the temperatures.

Isis however had had enough. She stepped out from behind Li and before they knew it, ice had encased Pyro and he was now doing a very good impression of a half human-half tameranian ice cube.

Li and Zeru just looked at her dumbfounded.

"Come on." She muttered in her usual icy tones, though these were twined with a furious anger. She'd never met such an annoying person as Pyro in all her life… Well Zeru did come close, but he wasn't a genocidal maniac.

**-----------------------------**

**Ok, so maybe its not as good a cliff hanger as my usual ones, at least I don't think so, but that's why I'm putting it on here right, to get your opinion! Quite an action packed chapter if I do say so myself and the action isn't going to slow down either! Muhahaha. Right, as I said at the beginning, the referral to Li's accident is explained in my ither fic Teen Titans: The Alpha Five, just in case you want to read it and find out what I'm on about as I haven't really had a chance to explain Li's powers.**

**On another note - read Starfire Fury's fanfics they are so mega ace! Please, please please review because I'm seriously lacking in the review department - first one to do so gets a year's supply of virtual chocolate chip cookies!**

**So there's only these things left for me to say:**

**Please review**

**Please read Starfire Fury's fics**

**I hope you enjoyed this fic**

**More to come next chapter!**

**PS - If anyone can guess what the name: Morana means, they too get a year's supply of virtual cookies.**


	17. Killer or Coward?

I do not own the Teen Titans or anything related to them, however I do own this story and all of the non-original characters except for Isis, who I have been given permission to use by a friend of mine and all are copywrited. This means you can not copy the story or any of the characters or use them without permission from their original owners. Check out the mini-fics by my friend, Starfire Fury, called Teen Titans: Alpha Humor, they're mini-fics about these characters and they're really good and absolutely hilarious, so go read them!

_**Teen Titans: Alpha**_

_**Killer or Coward?**_

Phoe breathed in harshly as the icy water reached her bare mid-driff. Her teeth were chattering and tiredness was sweeping over her. She strained against the ropes that tied her, but was pulled back just as fiercely. It all seemed hopeless as the water rose to around her chest, then higher to her neck. She closed her eyes, trying to calm herself and conserve her energy.

Hope was coming… Wasn't it? She'd seen the Titans coming, but she didn't know what had happened since the screen had been turned off. What if they'd been hurt, or worse? … What if there was no one coming?

No, she couldn't think like that, she wouldn't let herself, they were all fine, they were coming and all she had to do was sit tight… and stay alive. So she closed her eyes, breathed in deeply to calm herself and opened them, trying to keep the darkness of sleep away. She strained her neck to keep her head above the water as she sunk further and the water rose higher, feeling the freezing temperatures stabbing at the nerves in her neck now, she could no longer feel her legs and her stomach and arms were going numb.

'_Just a little longer… You can't give up hope. Not after what you did, trust them, believe in them.'_ And so she did.

The Titans ran to the door that Pyro had come through and walked into the opening hallway that led from it.

"Split up, search all the doors, we have to find her." Taiyou said and all the Titans nodded, taking one of the four doors that led from the hallway. Zeru zoomed down a dark corridor, opening the doors, scanning the rooms quickly and closing the door to a room full of sleeping wild cats just as quickly.

Li and Isis had taken the doors nearest to them, each leading up higher into the confines, where there were small laboratories and bedrooms.

Taiyou however had gone for the one straight in front of him. He ran down the dark corridor, his hand encircled in flames to act as a torch. He ran down, deeper and deeper; feeling the air become colder and colder, as if the air itself was frozen. After a good deal of running he found a pair of double doors, like that to a freezer. The handles were encrusted in ice that looked like crystal, that felt as strong as steel as he pulled the doors open.

Phoenix had just taken her last deep breath as her head disappeared underneath the water, closing her eyes behind her mask as her last shred of hope flickered. _'Come on, you can't give up now, they're coming… just hold on…'_ but as the tiredness swept over her she felt as though she couldn't hold it off for much longer.

"PHOE!" Taiyou shouted, running and skidding to the pool, trying to pull the cage back out. There wasn't enough time to call the others, he'd have to try and save her himself. It was up to him to save her life and a small part of him couldn't help but doubt himself _'Not again… Not again please…'_

He gritted his teeth as he tried to pull the cage back, but there was no use, he'd have to try something else. He encircled his hands in flames and began to melt the ceiling of the cage before it disappeared under the water. As the cage slipped, further into the blue mass, the cold water surrounded his hands and the flames went out, but there was still enough heat there to finish a hole, big enough for him to get through.

He took a deep breath and jumped in, feet first. He landed on the bottom of the cage, seeing Phoe all bound up. Her skin was blue and her hair was moving with the ripples of the water that his jumping in had caused. He shook her, but she didn't respond – she was unconscious. _'Come on Phoe, not you too.'_ Taiyou thought frantically as he fumbled with the knots that tied her to the cage. He found himself struggling and had to stop to go up for air. He took another deep breath as his head broke the surface and dived back under. He had to do this several times, each one he had to dive further under water as the cage continued to lower into the pool.

Another couple of moments and the bonds tying Phoenix to the cage drifted away, slowly floating to the surface. Phoenix's body slumped limply against Taiyou as he held her to him, she was like ice herself. As soon as he was sure he had a good grip on her he began to swim with her out of the hole in the cage roof and through the mass of water that the cage has sunk through above.

A few seconds later and Taiyou's head broke the surface once more; he pulled Phoenix higher up, pushing her out onto the side, before pulling himself out of the pool.

"GUYS I'VE GOT HER, SHE'S IN HERE!" Taiyou yelled as loudly as he could, too concerned with trying to save Phoenix to use his communicator.

He pushed some sopping wet hair out of his face, before pulling Phoenix further away from the pool to stop any chance of them falling back in, then collapsed to his knees beside her, touching her blue skin gently, she was still ice cold.

Then he got a brain wave. He closed his eyes as he felt his blood heat up, as if the red liquid were on fire itself, warming himself up as he had done when they'd gone camping when he was little and it'd turned cold. As he felt his hands heat up, he smiled, nodding to himself as he placed his hands above Phoenix's heart, warming her skin and her blood, as it pumped around her body, slowly melting the coldness that had enveloped her and warming her through.

The Titans seemed to have heard him on their way back to the hallway and had all dashed through the door that Taiyou had taken. Li led them through as he was the only one who could see through the pitch black clearly, and as they all emerged on the other side they squinted at the light before running to where Taiyou knelt, trying to warm Phoenix through as best as he could.

"What happened?" Zeru asked, looking at Phoenix who was still a pale blue, apart from the where Taiyou's hand was upon her heart, where the skin had returned to its warm tone. Taiyou was too exhausted to speak as he used all his energy trying to warm Phoenix. Isis tapped Zeru on the shoulder, pointing to the pool. Zeru's and Li's jaws dropped as they looked over the edge at the cage.

"That maniac had her in a cage?" Zeru asked flabbergasted. Isis nodded as Li examined the water in the pool, putting his hand in for a moment, causing him to shiver and recoil.

"That water's freezing!" Isis nodded.

"He was trying to slowly freeze her to death… The pain of the cold must've been bad. It's a long, cruel and painful way to die."

"He was trying to kill her then?" Zeru asked and Isis nodded once more.

"If she didn't die from the cold she would've drowned." Li had knelt down beside Phoenix on her other side, checking her pulse, though because it was so faint he had trouble finding it.

"She has a faint pulse, so that's something." He spotted the red rope burns around her wrists and looked at Taiyou with a disgusted face.

"He tied her up as well?" Taiyou nodded tiredly, Phoenix was warming up, but he couldn't keep this up for much longer. Li had noticed the tired look on his face and realized what he was doing.

"How much longer can you keep that up Tae?" Li asked, his face concerned as the other Titans looked to them.

"Not much longer, we need to warm her up quicker, this isn't working as well as if it were just me, its like sharing blood between the two of us." Li nodded.

"It's sapping your strength because you're trying to keep two people warm. Isis, call the police, get them down here. Ze, I need you to whip up a wind for us, we need to dry these pair off." Isis and Zeru nodded, going about their allocated tasks. With in minutes both Taiyou and Phoenix were dry and it was a lot easier for Taiyou to keep them both warm without having to compensate for the water in their clothes.

After a few more minutes Taiyou thought he was about to collapse himself when he heard a faint cough.

"Phoe?" He asked as her eyes flickered open (well all they could see was her mask obviously) and she coughed up the water in her lungs.

"She's awake." Taiyou stated as the other Titans gathered around her. She sat up and once she'd coughed up as much of the water as she could, she wiped her mouth and looked at them all.

"I'm so sorry guys." She said weakly, though her strength was gradually returning.

"Don't worry about it, we know you thought you were doing the right thing." Zeru said shrugging with his typical 'Zeru grin' plastered on his face, Li nodded,

"Yeah, but you could've told us you know, we're all big boys and girls, we can take care of ourselves." Phoenix smiled broadly.

"Thanks guys." They helped her to her feet and they began to walk back into the hallway, Li leading the way as Taiyou was finding it hard to maintain a torch after the draining he'd just taken. As he and Phoenix followed the others, Phoenix turned to him.

"Thanks Taiyou, for saving me." He looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

"How did you know it was me, you were unconscious." Phoenix smiled.

"You're the only one who could've warmed me through after the water." In truth she hadn't known at all, but she'd hoped anyway, hoped that he didn't hate her enough to let her die down there. Taiyou nodded and shrugged.

"That's what friends do I guess."

"So we are still friends then?" Phoenix asked quieter than before and Taiyou looked at her.

"Yeah, 'course we are.'" Phoenix beamed as they reached the main room where they had left Pyro… Only Pyro wasn't there, well at least, not in his cage.

It took a split second for Isis, Zeru, Li and Taiyou to realize that Pyro had escaped and that they needed to move, but Phoenix didn't know this and so barely missed the laser beams that shot from his eyes.

"I see you survived sister, I guess I will have to give you a quick death after all." Phoenix glared, she dove for him, knocking him to the ground, pinning him, her hands wrapped around his throat, where she got the strength from God only knew.

"Go ahead then sister. Kill me! Go on!" Pyro sneered up at her and Phoenix glowered back.

"Phoe?" Isis asked, the Titans were all looking at her, dumbfounded, would she?

"Go on. Kill me, or are you too weak? Choose, sister dear, killer or coward?" Phoenix glared at him as he grinned evilly up at her, the Titans enclosed around them and Phoenix spoke clearly, though her eyes were filled with tears that leaked underneath her mask.

"Coward, every day." She got up and Li restrained Pyro, picking him up and walking him outside. Phoenix looked at the floor until she found a hand on her shoulder, she turned to look, surprised that it was Isis nodding and smiling at her, it was a small smile, but it was genuine and Phoenix was grateful for it all the same.

Zeru nodded to her, a big grin on his face before flying after Li with Isis following behind them. Phoenix breathed in deeply and Taiyou walked to stand beside her. She looked to him with a tear-ridden smile, slightly forced, but at least she was trying. He put an arm around her and hugged her briefly, before they followed the others out to meet the police.

They watched as Pyro, the newly defrosted Ninjari and her animals were carted away in several secure police vans and headed back to the Tower.

It had been a couple of hours since the Titans had arrived home. Zeru and Li had led everyone in, cheering and grinning from ear to ear that their leader was back and everything was normal again. They immediately got out the game station and decided to have a celebratory game tournament in honour of the victory. Isis had rolled her eyes, but retrieved a glass, clicked her fingers to fill it with water and then sat down to watch them.

Taiyou was about to join them when Phoenix began to walk past the common room.

"You ok Phoe?" He asked and Phoenix nodded.

"Yeah, I was just going to call my mom and dad, they'll want to know that I'm safe." Taiyou nodded and went to join the others as Phoenix walked away.

She returned a while later, picking up her communicator from the table, noticing the photograph, but leaving it there.

"I'm just going onto the roof for a bit, just call me if you need me." Zeru and Li shouted 'Yeah Ok' over their game and Isis nodded. Taiyou got up to follow her, but Isis stopped him.

"Just give her some time." Taiyou nodded and reluctantly watched the game once more.

It was a couple of hours later and as Phoenix sat on the roof, looking out over Jump City, she heard foot steps walking towards her, though there was something familiar about these foot steps and so wasn't alarmed or apprehensive.

"You ok?"

"I will be." She smiled, a small but genuinely hopeful smile as Taiyou sat next to her. She spoke quietly, as though unsure of her thoughts, or that she was speaking aloud. "I couldn't do it. I didn't have the strength to kill him. I guess he was right, I am weak." Taiyou looked at her, she was looking out at Jump City as the sun was setting, the golden reddish glow from the sun highlighted the beauty he saw in her once more and the tear stains of tears she'd tried to wipe away.

"No Phoe, you're different. You're stronger." She smiled at his words, though there was disbelief in her face as she stared at the horizon. "No seriously Phoe, you're stronger than he is. You decided to do what was right, even though it meant living with your fear, instead of taking the easy option and getting rid of the cause of it." Phoenix tore her eyes away from the sun to look at him when she knew he was looking away from her. Even after all she'd done, all she'd said, he still believed in her.

"Thanks." She said quietly, looking back to the sun and Taiyou shook his head.

"I'm only saying the truth." He got to his feet and began walking back inside. "You staying out here a bit longer?" Phoenix looked over her shoulder at him, then back to the landscape. She breathed in the fresh air deeply, only a few hours ago she had been thinking she'd been taking her last breaths down there and that she wouldn't smell fresh air again.

Taiyou watched her silently as she turned, walking to him. When she spoke, it was as if she was speaking to the whole of Jump City, or even the wind itself, in quiet, but purposeful tones.

"I think it's time for me to come back now." Taiyou smiled and she smiled back as they both walked back into the main room. He watched her walk in first, plonking herself next to Isis on the end of the sofa, smiling and laughing as Zeru and Li battled it out and Isis made sarcastic remarks. He smiled, whispering to himself;

"Welcome back Phoe, welcome back."

**Awwwwww, nothing like a bit of serious and heartfelt fluff for the end of a chapter LOL. Anyway, what do you think? I'm not sure if this is where this fic will end, just have to wait and see, but there are definately more episodes to come for these Titans, so stay tuned, review and read my friend Starfire Fury's fics. That's all for noe folks... Always wanted to say that LOL.**

**P.S. Sorry for the long wait.**


End file.
